"Fast Play Mech rules?" Topic

Looking around, I realized that I've got a fair number of mech miniatures…
20 or so from the 90's BT boxed set
16 from the City fight set
10 metal mechs
…and it might be fun to play a game with them.

I tried to play BT back in the day, and while I love the fluff, it's just too many rules. These days I'm not interested in much more comples than Song of Blades and Heroes or Flying Lead. Thus I'm looking for a set of mech rules that is:

1) Easy to learn. (similar to Flying Lead in complexity)
2) Has some customizaility in terms of mech armnament.
3) Can accomadate around 12 mechs a side.
4) Cheap or free would be nice.
5) Playable on terrain. Not interested in hex maps.
6) Play time around 60-90(max) minutes.
7) Ability to incorporate infantry and tanks is cool, but definitely not necessary.

What'da ya got?

Designed for somewhat larger forces than 12 mechs per side, but you've got more! Or 12 mechs plus some support units would still play up fairly quickly: Future War Commander
link

I think the Battletech rulebooks has a fast play variant, in one of the current books, I dunno which one though, as I just have the main hardback

Minimo,
Hmm, I've heard good things about FWC, but I've also heard that the level of complexity, and time required is considerably higher than what I'm looking for. Care to comment?

Thundertotem,
I just found those rules online, I'll give them a read-through tonight. Something tells me I may actually have a similar set of rules in my old battletech books somewhere.

Mecha! from Flagship Games. Wiki page here link

I have a feeling there was a very good set (by Dave Stuckey?) in Ragnarok a few years back.

Doesn't BT have some really high level rules, where they abstract the mech's weapons to damage per rangeband and some other basic stuff?

I think it was meant to help with larger scale battles but would probably work for you as well

CWC does take a bit of time to digest, but plays much faster than Battletech. 1 person who learns the rules reasonably well can guide everyone through their first game pretty easily. The book has lots of thorough examples and photos, so learning it from the book is not painful. For the size forces you're contemplating, the time should work out about right, based on my experience playing larger games with the system.

It's called Quick Strike. It uses the abstract Battleforce rules, but each 'mech is its own unit. It's designed for fast play on regular (i.e., non-hexed) terrain, and can be found in the book Strategic Operations.

Try CAV (the first version)

1) Easy to learn. (similar to Flying Lead in complexity)

You only use d10's for rolls. The modifiers are fairly simple and straight forward. Opposed rolls can slow things down a bit if your opponent isn't too bright or tends to wander off, but it also keeps you both involved.

2) Has some customizaility in terms of mech armnament.

You can swap out any weapon for most other weapons in the game. If you track down a copy of the first Journal of Recognition book you'll get the rules to construct a model from the ground up too.

3) Can accomadate around 12 mechs a side.

No problems there. It scales up nicely too if you want to use more than 12.

4) Cheap or free would be nice.

You can get the rules by themself online for free at cavhq.com, or you can usually find a copy on eBay or a used copy at your FLGS if they sell them. If you can pick up the two Journal of Recognitions at the same time, do so.

5) Playable on terrain. Not interested in hex maps.

Check

6) Play time around 60-90(max) minutes.

90 minutes might be pushing it. Its been years since I played the original version, but I think it'd be closer to 2 hours for 12 mechs/side, but then again that depends on the exact models that you take.

7) Ability to incorporate infantry and tanks is cool, but definitely not necessary.

Infantry rock. Vehicles can be useful, but are kinda slow. Easily fixed w/the construction rules.

Ed (from 2 hour wargames) is working on a Sci-fi set of rules designed for humans and bugs that I have just had an opportunity to look at today.

I'll just bet, if you 'bug' him, he might include something for mechs -- it would work with that game. It really would.

mjc

Meka Tac would work. Go to Lloyd's very cool page supporting the rules. I wrote a list for most of the 3025 BT mechs.

link

Thanks,

John

I think Flying Lead or Song of Blades and Heroes would work as they are…

Maybe Armor Grid Games: Mech Attack armorgridgames.blogspot.com

It's fairly inexpensive ($8), plus there's paper models available for mechs, vehicles, and infantry. The mechs and vehicles are customisable as well.

Meka Tac – Giant Stompy Robot Edition is a variant of Meka Tac. Giant Stompy Robots page: link

1) Easy to learn.
A: Yes.

2) Has some customizaility in terms of mech armament.
A: Yes.

3) Can accommodate around 12 mechs a side.
A: Yes, though more than 12 I'd leave the Action Cards in their box.

4) Cheap or free would be nice.
A: FREE!

5) Playable on terrain. Not interested in hex maps.
A: Yes. Though the mapless rules mod is available for download, and they are functional, they are not final.

6) Play time around 60-90(max) minutes.
A: Three players with 2 mechs each, with Action Cards, and a mapless table = 90 to 120 minutes. Naturally, experienced players would take less time.

7) Ability to incorporate infantry and tanks is cool, but definitely not necessary.
A: Not yet, but in the works.

I'll be running 2 games of Meka Tac – GSRE at Fall In. Please stop by if you're going!

Al.

Thanks for all the input folks. Here's what I've come to.

The Outs…

FWC, Cav (current edition), and Battlecorps – All require $40+ outlays for books/sets that seem more complex than what I'm interested in.

The maybes.

1)Battletech Quick Play- Looks all right. May be a fallback.
2)Mecha!- Haven't got enough info to make a judgement, even the publisher doesn't say much about it.
3)Cav (1st edition)- No longer available online.

Top picks so far.

1)Meka Tac (Giant Stompy Robots)- This looks promising, A bit low on production values, and seems aimed at only a couple mech or two per player, but Stats already exist for many of the mechs that I have!
2)Mech Attack- This looks very promising. Only 8 bucks, seems quite straitforward, and the production values look high enough to interest my gaming friends. I've emailed the designer for more info.

Anybody have any more insight into either of these two?

What about Heavy Gear Blitz?

DP9s figures are a bit GW-style in price but their rulebooks that I read have been first class.

A lot simpler than Battletech – it would be my pick if I branched into ground mech games.

Check out the quickstart rules free on their website:
link

We played a lot of mech + support games of Dirtside II a few years back. It is fast, fun, and you can incorportate anything you want, infantry, vehicles, artillery, nukes, air attacks etc. Should be free to download & fun to play.

Phil

CAV 1 is still available, I just put the comma inside of the url tag. Oops.

Try this instead cavhq.com/rules.html

Thanks again for everyone's input. I took a look at the Heavy Gear and Cav1 rules last night and I have decided on Mech Attack! with Cav1 and Mek Atac GSRE as backups.

I emailed some questions to the "Mech Attack!" creators and the answers I got from Chuck are below for anyone who might be interested. Obviusly the creators are going to put their product in the most favorable light, but it was enough to convince me that it's a product worth picking up. I'll be buying the PDF this evening.

Q1) Scope: What is the ideal # of units per side?
A: The average game is about 50 Build Points per side, which gives youabout 5 models per side… give or take a little based on your unitchoices.The simplicity of the rules does allow for much larger games andscales very well.

Q2) Game Time: How long does a typical game take to play?
A: The average game can be played in 30-45 minutes…

Q 3) Compatilibity: Would I be able to use the BT figs I already have?
A: If by BT figs you mean MechWarrior figs, then yes… They are the right scale, but you will need a hex base… Many people use MW figs sitting on top of cardstock hex bases. You can also remove the round bases and model your own hex bases. BattleTech Classic figs are however a smaller scale, but you can still use them… The scale ofthe game will just be different.

Q4) Surface: Does it require hex maps, or can it be played on traditional terrain?
A:It does not require hex maps. It is intended to be played on open terrain… I like to use a large piece of green felt fabric.

Q5) Complexity of rules: Is it similar in complexity to BattleTech, 40k, Necromunda, Flying Lead (Song of Blades and Heroes game engine), or Chess?
A:It is most similar to BattleTech Classic… But much, much simpler.It is designed to be fast and simple yet retain a high level of strategy and tactics. I especially like the battle damage system, it is quite unique.

Please post an AAR for your Mech Attack! game.

Just got the rules for Mech Attack!. A few observations.

A quick read through (it's only 13 pages) reveals that it is very battletech inspired, but -as promised- much simpler. The damage system is pretty cool. It's a check the box system, inspired by BT but very simple/abstracted. The authors seem to have found a very interesting way of showing ways that different weapons systems cause not only differing levels, but different patterns of damage.

Effects of excess Heat buildup is handled with a single die roll at the end of a mech's activation. I'm glad to see that heat is taken into account, -as this is a defining charachteristic of the BT world- but still kept simple.

All weapons are abstracted into Machine guns, Lasers and Missiles, all of which are available in light, medium and heavy. The Light medium and Heavy levels also classify the mechs. Each mech being limited to equipment and weapons at it's level or under. There are a couple of electronics packages available as upgrades also.

The one glaring omission is jump jets. I'm not sure how I feel about this, as I never used jump jets much, but it's still such a great part of the mech ethos.

I bought this to have an easy ruleset for some old BT figs. It's not going to be able to precisely represent every vehicle, weapon, and loadoaut in the BT universe (especially the smaller mechs that mount one or two large weapons) but that's really not the point of the game, and most any BT figure could probably be statted out in a modified form.

Lastly, the little paper mechs and vehicles are cute, but not what I'm looking for in a game. If I didn't have the mechs I do, I'd probably pick up some MW CMG figs just to play the game.

Sum up, I'm glad I bought it, I just hope I can get my gaming friends to try it out. If I ever get a battle going, I'll post an AAR.

Alternatively, if any one in the Chicago area want's to come by and try this game out let me know.

quick adendum, There are a couple other weapon systems and weapon variants (cannons, armor piercing, etc) that appear only in the weapons list at the end of the book.

Based on the comments here I went and took a look at Mech Attack (rather than Meka Tac which i have laready played several times). The forum seems pretty quiet for a new set of rules. I couldn't find anything about the rules that grabbed my interest enough to buy them other than the $8.00 USD price. Meka Tac has a lot of supporting material, is easy to play and is fun. Plus it's free! I'll always start at free first. It also has the 3025 mechs from BT rated up which is hugely important for me and why I haven't played CAV.

YMMV.

Thanks,

John

If all you want is BT with lighter rules, you really should check out BT's Quick Strike rules. They're available for free on the CBT website along with a book's worth of basic mechs stated out. And you can find a lot more mechs' stats on the 'net.

John,
Meka Tac looks like a good game. looking at the two side by side, I think I like the Mech Attack damage system better, and the presentation and printable unit/damage cards are nice. When you're trying to get your friends to play presentation (printable cards, book form, etc) does go a long way.

In it's favor, Meka does have jump jets, free-ness, and an interesting card system. Chrome,
I read through Quick Strike. It's still more involved than Mech Attack, and it doesn't take heat into consideration. I see it as more of a lead in to battle tech than a dedicated quick play mech game.

As for Mech Stats I do like reading Battletech's Tech Readout books I've got a few and may pick a few more (older editions since I'm not using BT rules anyway) to use as the basis for mechs in Mech Attack. I've got a backlog of mechs to paint up, but I'd still like to get some em4 mechs to convert and stat-up.

Yeah, the big problem with the old BattleForce rules was the lack of heat factors. A vanilla Rifleman was much deadlier in BF than in BT.